Tuesday 23 April 2013

Poetry

Look up "Poetry" in any dictionary and it says "the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts." But it is more than just an art to me, it is strangers' feelings on a piece of paper that may or may not rhyme. But to any one that reads that poem will come out with a different questions and answers to what the poem means and what the deeper meaning is.
 It is hard to find an answer to poetry. Poetry is an open book with millions of answers that are right. You can be shallow and just read the words or you can look deep and connect that poem to yourself but no matter how deep or close to the top you are, you will find a different meaning to your mum,dad, brother or sister. Even if you have known that person your whole life their thought process is different. 

Wednesday 27 February 2013

What is the What

I think that What is the What, is a very emotional book but we all say "it must be so hard to go through that". But we are just saying those words we don't know what it is like to be them. We can watch interviews, read books but we will never fully understand the emotion, pain and heartache Valentino went through.
I know that a lot of the images and scenes in this book are true but some part of me, thinks that it is exaggerated because I wasn't there, how can I possibly know the whole truth.
We are using this book to find some sort of truth but the truth is, EVERYBODY LIES.
Sometimes it is for a good cause, some times not but everybody lies. It is what keeps some people alive some might loose everything but it is the risk that everybody takes. There can be part truths in the lie but finding the humanity and courage to say that you have never lied and will not lie is almost impossible and I am waiting for the day when someone comes into my life who doesn't lie for any cause.
I think the writing in this book is outstanding and it makes you think. How Dave Eggers came up with the idea to make Michael relate to the Western World.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Pop Quiz

Blogging is a useful part of the english classroom.
I disagree with this statement because if you spend a lot of time on one piece, not many people will read it and therefore you will feel as if no one cares about your piece. You might know that this is not true but when you have no comments or any one coming up to you saying “I read your blog post” you can feel as if no one wants to know your view or story and that can be quite demoralising. Also the problem with blogging is that it can be an escape rope for some people because they might not necessarily like sharing their stories or views through their own voice so they sit behind a screen sharing this but you can’t rely on your computer for you whole life, you are going to have to learn how to express yourself talking face to face with someone. Some people don't like having their personal thoughts online because it is a public space and we might not like showing people we don't know our views on certain topics.


How to Write about Norway

This is a satirical piece based on How to Write about Africa by Granta. 

On the cover of the book always have a picture of snow, the fjords, salmon or trolls. If you do included salmon you must make sure that it is the biggest salmon anyone has ever seen so the Norwegians don’t offend when they realize that the salmon is from Scotland.

Always use the words ‘fjord/s’, ‘frostbite’, ‘snow’ or ‘lutfisk’ in your book. Treat Norway as if it is under snow the whole year round. Write about people freezing and people having to scrape snow off their windows but never write about how they don’t shut down when there is a metre of snow unlike England.

Find a way to convey the idea that Norwegians are not just farmers that work on the icy land all year round, they do have jobs in heated buildings. You know that the Norwegians will be reading it because nothing is ever written about them because they are too far north for anyone to ever spend anytime there without feeling out of touch with the rest of the World.

When you are describing the people make the women out to be very tall, blonde and with high cheekbones. But the men as broad, hairy farmers with feet and hands as hard as nails. They must seem like they don’t speak much english but once they are comfortable they will go on speaking for hours about the latest movie which yes they watched in english.

Really make the human, polar bear relationship is visible. Them being so deep in snow, they really talk to the animals when they get lost and there aren’t many humans around. Build up their fires like it is a culture and that they don’t have central heating.

Just remember they have descended from Vikings therefore we are either king and polite or cold and they don’t show their emotions.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Single Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D9Ihs241zeg

This was a clip of Chimamanda Adichie who tells stories about why a single story is so relevant in our lives. How we immediately make judgments on people just by the books we read and what we hear from the people around us.  Chimamanda started to read at the age of 4 but the only books that she read were American and they were all about the weather and white people with blue eyes and they would drink ginger beer. That's all she knew. At the age of 7 she began to write and every story was like the books she had read, how they would talk about how nice it was that the sun had appeared not knowing the fact that in Nigeria the sun was always out.
 But then she discovered that people like her could appear in literature and they do exist in the world by reading African Books. This saved her because she was starting to learn about her culture and the way that was brought up. She started to learn about herself and the society around her. "I started to write about things I recognized".
Then she goes on to talk about when she went to university her room mate had automatically made a single story of her. She thought that she wouldn't know how to use the cooker. This was because all the books in America that were published about Africa all had something to do with the fact that they needed help and hope because people were very poor. This may be true to some people in Africa but in America there are homeless people and people struggling it is just that society liked to look beyond that to the happy fortunate people because it looked better to the rest of the world.
I think that Chimamanda is completely right because in her speech even though she talked about others she also criticized herself and how she had a single story on Mexico when she went there. But it is amazing to think that books have such an influence on single storys when now-a-days you only hear of the internet making things up and exaggerating real life. I have never thought of books in that way before but I think that it is absolutely true no matter if it was books, a computer or the radio. Judgements are always being seen and being written and we can't stop anyone to their own opinion but the way that Chimamanda presented herself and the speech that the wrote was in such a calm but powerful manner that it made a real impact even though you might think differently, her view should be heard and considered.

Cues:
-Single Story
-Stereotypes- The thought that single stories are not, not true but they are incomplete.
-"TO BE GREATER THAN"- Power, Come to conclusions
-Western Story- Negative towards Africans, Think that the Africans are different, Meant to believe they need help.



Water

Water is what keeps everything alive, astronauts train in it because it is the closest thing we have to space, it wouldn’t be the same world if everything was dead. I swim in water every day of my life. I wake up every morning to go swimming. Sometimes I will do anything in my power to not go swimming because I don’t want dive into water but every time I win a medal, swim a new PB or just become faster through the water all those early morning wake up calls from my alarm feels just like something that I am going to have to deal with if I want to get to the top. I was always a water baby, I loved swimming and every chance I had to dive into a pool, I would grab it.
The water for me is a place where I can get away from either a chaotic life, sometimes there is so much going on that when I dive into the pool for a training session it is a chance to just focus on something that I want to do for the rest of my life. Everyone always asks me “why don’t you ever get tired of swimming up and down”. I always say “well I enjoy it” just a short simple reply but the truth is that I do get tired but when I’m injured there is nothing that I miss more and then I really know that I want to strive to become the best athlete I can.
At competitions things don’t always go according to plan. But right after a race it will always go three ways.
1- You are overjoyed because you have won a medal or set a new Personal Best.
2- It was a great race you just might of been a bit tired or you have been injured and you haven’t been raining for a while.
3- You had so much expectation for yourself and you didn’t deliver on the day and all you want to do is quit and that moment in time.
Last summer at the end of July, I was going to swim in the most important race of my life so far, it was the 100m backstroke final at the English Nationals Championships. I remember the calling room. It was a room you had to go to 30 minutes before the race. It was completely white with a few blue chairs, it was probably the saddest,most depressing room I have ever had to sit in, not only that but in complete silence. Walking up to the blocks it quite terrifying because everyone in the stands have their eyes on you and it is quite different from being in the water because in the water the water blocks out the sound for you so that pressure is lifted off you.The moment when that whistle goes to get in the water, is when you finally realise that this is real, you aren’t dreaming.
That sharp sound of the starting whistle was like glass shattering on the floor. My brain was so sharp and awake that it knew what to do in that split second where everything counts to whether you have a good lead or you trail behind. Coming up from my underwater start it was as if my brain had no idea how to communicate with my body but my arms and legs were moving, I felt like a worm which had been cut in half. My arms were trying to grab and push through water while my legs were kicking like a hummingbird's wings. The first 50 meters were fast but it felt good. Going into the second and last 50 meters everything changes. My brain was fighting with the rest of my body. My arms start to take the easy route by changing the motion of the way you push through the water, my legs were giving up but my legs are stronger than my arms so they kept going. The last 15 meters you have everything to gain and everything to lose. Even though I was on my back I still held my breath. At this point my arms had something left (it felt like a miracle) and they made so much splash that I couldn’t see anyone everything was just a blur. It was as if that 5 second slot was about one hour long. My brain was thinking actually thinking while my body was just crying out to stop. As soon as I hit that touch pad. My arms and legs were so relieved while every tear, laugh, moment was coming into this one glance at a screen. My head turned around and there was my name in big bold letters ANNA PANG and as my eyes scanned over to the right of the screen it said 3rd. My face light up like the sun burning through the clouds after a rain storm. I was so unbelievably happy.  
But as usual nothing goes exactly the way they appear to be. There was something wrong with the touch pad during the race. So after they got that persons time they realised that they had gone faster and they would be rewarded 2nd place meaning that everyone who came 3rd or below got dropped one place. That meant I settled for fourth. That sun had gone behind the clouds and there was a hurricane.
That was my one chance to finally getting recognised for what I do and for what I train so hard for. That moment was a huge setback for me and I will always say to myself was because I didn’t train hard enough or I didn’t push myself hard enough during that race. I have gone through coming 4th three times now in the same event at the same competition and each time it feels like the end of the world for my swimming ambition but I never quit, it is probably the only thing that I have never given up on straight away and have continued to put myself through pressure when I shouldn’t do, but you can’t not have pressure on yourself because that is what gets your adrenaline pumping, your heartbeat up and the motivation to be the best.
But even though you can go through all these emotions (not just once but over and over again) you will never quit because even though you hate it, you couldn’t imagine your life without it.
At training it is 90% physical and 10% mental, in a race it is 10% physical and 90% mental. All you have to do is have that will power and the urge to continue no matter what, and somewhere in the back of your mind you have to know that you will fail but if you really love it and you think that there might be a chance, then you won’t give up no matter how many times you talk about it.  There is one thing to it....... 100% hard.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

London 2012

The Olympics, London 2012 was the big discussion in class toady. It was fascinating to hear everyone's opinion on the patriotism, competition and sports of the Olympics.
I think that the Olympics is where countries unite and for that three hour of the Olympic ceremony the World seems like a better place. But as some of my class mates were saying is that sometimes the Olympics becomes more about the politics involved instead of about the sport. But like anything there is always drama, nothing ever runs smoothly.
Some people were talking about the patriotism of the Olympics. But I don't think patriotism goes on so much in the Olympics because the judges and the referees are there to support the help the game run smoothly instead of putting there country and opinion infront. Yes patriotism has happened in the past but there are enough professional judges and referees to see that and take control of the situation. These judges and referees are professional and if they think there is discrimination or any type of bias going on they will put a stop to it.
As a person that plays a lot of sport I love the competition of the Olympics. At the end of the day there is going to be that one person who stands on top of that podium and is crowned champion. This is why I think these athletes go through all the early wake up calls and pushing themselves to their limit to become the best and the decisions that they make leading up to the Olympics define how well they do, because no one knows you more than yourself. The athletes get to know one another and they properly have a lot of respect for each other but maybe deep down they know that at the end it will come down to who is the ultimate best and that's what they have to prepare for not only mentally but physically.
The amount of sports that are involved in the Olympics is a very vast number but my personal opinion is that sports which already have a lot of television time and the people that play those sports get paid vast amounts I don't think they should be on the Olympics because other sports that might not be so recognized still might not get recognized because the people who are watching it through a tv can only see what is media is playing. The Olympics is all about equality and uniting with others but in a way how is Olympics equal and fair if one sports dominates the whole media's attention. The media is a very big part of the Olympics and I think that if there is one thing being biased it is the media, they choose what they televise and so not televising one sport could mean that, that person who won gold isn't as important as the person who won gold in another sport. All these athletes do what they do for a reason because they have the passion and if they aren't getting that acknowledgment then that passion might begin to fade and it could become discrimination, I don't know.
But all in all I think the Olympics is a great topic to talk about because even though the Olympics is the biggest Sporting event there are lots of areas to it that we don't recognized until we really look for it.